COCK-A-LEEKIE SCOTTISH CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• 1. This soup starts in the afternoon, so make sure you've got enough time on your hands!!! Start off my taking a 3-4 lb chicken and put it in a dutch oven. Chop one onion into eighths, two large carrots into big sized chunks, about 4 celery sticks and peel about 6 cloves of garlic. Arrange them all around the chicken except two of the garlic cloves. • Stuff a bundle of fresh rosemary, thyme and oregano into the body cavity of the chicken (check to make sure they don't have the bagged intestines inside... gross, but important) with the two cloves of garlic, and spread a smaller bundle around with the onions and carrots. Sprinkle the whole she-bang with salt and pepper. Cook on very low heat for about two hours When the chicken is cooked, let it cool off for a little bit and then pull it, the veggies and any herbs out of the pot, leaving any liquid in the bottom of the dutch oven and set aside Put about four pints of broth into the pot and bring to a simmer. Add half a cup of barley (dry), about 7 leeks (white and light green parts only) lightly chopped and about fifteen dried and pitted prunes cut into quarters. Cook for about forty minutes until the barley is cooked through While the soup is cooking, let the chicken and reserved veggies cool.... roughly chop them and set them aside. De-bone the chicken, discarding the skin and keeping the bones to make broth later, and shredding the meat into bite-sized pieces. Once the barley is cooked through, add the veggies and about half of the chicken meat back into the soup, along with a handful of fresh parsley Simmer for about ten more minutes and eat!